05/10/12

Marlene Rosenberg Quartet
Bassprint
Origin Records

By Bill Milkowski

A fixture on the Chicago scene, versatile bassist-composer-bandleader Marlene Rosenberg is joined on this smart, eminently swinging set by three Windy City transplants: guitarist Scott Hesse, Parisian-born drummer Makaya McCraven and the fine saxophonist Geof Bradfield. Rosenberg reveals key influences—namely Thelonious Monk and Wayne Shorter—on “Tale of Two Monk Keys,” which points up her woody, robust upright tone, and on the mysterious “Wayne-ish” and melancholy ballad “Eyes for Shorter.” She pays tribute to a mentor with beautiful renditions of Kenny Barron’s “Lullaby” and “Sunshower,” and steps it up on the unaccompanied “Prelude—Bassprint.” Bradfield’s resounding tenor solos, along with Hesse’s dark, Pat Martino-ish tone and inventive post-Kurt Rosenwinkel chops, invigorate this winning session.